Islamist movement falling apart
Posted on July 17th, 2014
Sayeed Gafurov Pravda.Ru
Radical Islamism has evolved into a qualitatively different organization – a very effectively controlled, well-organized and funded, with superbly trained fighters. That efficiency, with which it was possible to train, equip and send thousands of fighters from Syria to Iraq, can not but strike one’s imagination.
NATO wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria have not destroyed the most ugly form of political Islam. Quite on the contrary – they increased its radicalism. Victories have attracted more fighters, giving terrorists an opportunity to receive combat experience, which is now successfully used in Iraq. Successes in Libya, the legalization of subsidiaries in Qatar, Turkey and Egypt during Morsi’s presidency facilitated the logistical work for militants.
To protect themselves, oil monarchies, owners of drug cartels and masters of life in the countries such as Pakistan are forced to buy off from terrorists, giving them extra resources and reducing the dependence of radical political Islam on financial sources.
It is important to understand that when they talk about the “Islamic threat,” it goes about a threat to Islam, rather than a threat posed by Islam. It would be wrong, as it sometimes happens in the North Caucasus and in Russia on the whole, to call all Islamic radicals Wahhabis or Salafis. Apart from Wahhabis, there are other radical movements that can often be hostile to Wahhabism, but no less dangerous. The concept of “radical Islam” or “Islamic radicalism” combines different forces, including mutually exclusive ones.
Egypt and Russia
The situation is changing, and we can say that political Islam has split already. The struggle has started between the supporters of the relatively “moderate” line that is historically connected with Muslim Brotherhood movement that eyes Islamic political adventurers from Qatar, and the most dismal, once a pro-Saudi force, or, better to say, pseudo-Islamists from of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic army of the Levant, which the authorities in Riyadh can no longer manage. Traditionally, the basic method of puppeteers from Riyadh was money, but money can be found in other places.
There is a misconception that Gulf monarchies share a unity of positions, that Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other emirates are very close in their relationshops. This is not completely true. There are many things that connect them, but they have very serious differences too. Recently, militants close to Qatar-funded Muslim Brotherhood, entered into a bloody shootout with Saudi security officials and border guards. Monarchies hold political trials of opponents on political Islam – this is taken to discussions on the level of foreign ministers of the Cooperation Council of the Gulf States.
In Egypt, it was clearly evident, when the military toppled President Morsi, a protégé of Muslim Brotherhood. Pro-Wahhabi forces, funded by the Saudis, supported the coup. Riyadh supported the rise of Marshal al-Sisi to power, while Doha strongly objected to that. As a result, coordination has been replaced with fierce competition for influence on radical Muslim forces.
Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia is an ugly form of Islam. The Wahhabis believe that salvation on the Judgment Day depends on faith, not only on good or evil deeds. According to them, Christians are doomed to hell, and one should make Christians convert to Islam. If it is not possible, then one should destroy them. At the same time, the rest of Islam (including Muslim Brotherhood) is convinced that Christians also have chances to survive, depending on their deeds.
The split of political Islam in Russia was obvious in Chechnya, when Mufti Akhmad-Hadji Kadyrov realized the malignancy of separatism and decided to support the line of appeasement. No money from the Persian Gulf could influence the choice of the Chechen people. The only thing that separatists managed to do was to blow up the stadium with the Chechen mufti, but politically it was a gesture of despair. The people of Chechnya started reviving the war-ravaged republic. What is very important, and what many people in Russia do not understand is that the Chechen experience was an important lesson for the entire Muslim world in its confrontation to the radical pseudo-Islam of Wahhabi Muslim brothers.
Social base
Making a return to ugly religious values of the past is a social, rather than a religious phenomenon. Very often, the people, who lead extreme traditionalists behind them, are individuals, who received education in natural sciences, engineering or, for example, medical education. The head of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for instance, is a certified surgeon.
During the whole 19th and a half of the 20th century, Islam was trying to adapt itself to Western values. Eventually, many were convinced that “orientation – the West” has not made the people, who hoped so much for the triumph of justice, happy. Western values, knowledge and science do not make people happy. The only exception is, perhaps, chemistry – it makes drug addicts happy. Westerners encouraged the use of drugs; even Opium Wars were unleashed. The growth of income of conventional oil monarchies gave an additional impetus to political Islam.
Theorists of radical Islam believe that European knowledge is just a weapon, a tool that can be used against the Western world now, when social factors contribute to the incessant influx of fighters and suicide bombers, whom special services can not handle well. As we have seen in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, armies can not do it either.
In a weak country, where there is no industry and jobs, the only way to survive is military or public service, subsistence farming, immigration or crime. Revolution and civil war is also an option.
All people hate wars. A common Muslim rebel does not want to kill, but if you pay him $100 for the head of a killed officer, public official, a U.S. citizen, etc. it would mean that the killer would be able to feed his family for a month in advance. He kills to survive, because he gets paid for it.
This murder business needs higher arguments. In the Noble Quran, one can find an excuse to literally everything – from absolute pacifism and non-resistance to evil to beheading political opponents.
Organization
Al-Qaeda is a “faultless” organization. Intelligence agencies accuse Al-Qaeda militants of all terrorist acts committed by Islamists. The network does not deny any accusations. A considerable portion of Islamist militants are illiterate people. For them, the word “Al-Qaeda” that means “base “,”foundation” is rather a common name. Although, in fact, there is Al-Qaeda “in the narrow sense of the word,” nurtured with the help of U.S. special services. The organization is formally poorly structured, but essentially well-coordinated. It has a large number of subsidiaries, it is independent and very disciplined in its actions. Groups of quickly-trained jihadists can be sent to any region of the world – whether it is the Nile delta, Mesopotamia, Pakistan, Yemen, France, the United States or Tatarstan. Techniques were developed and tested in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Chechnya.
Tough and brutal fighters, who played a very important role in the victory over the Left, also want to grab a piece of the pie. However, financial, organizational, human and logistical resources of Islamic radicals are not limitless.
One should not use police methods to fight preaching – another, more persuasive preaching is required. Even very well-prepared radical propagandists do not stand an open dispute with educated opponents, because their view is false, it is not tenable from an Islamic perspective. However, since they are often better prepared than preachers of traditional Islam, they very often prevail in discussions aimed at winning the hearts of the dispossessed, the lumpen-proletariat – the cannon fodder of radical Islamists.
In October, President Putin spoke about the need to restore Russia’s own Islamic theological school. There are 82 Islamic centers and organizations registered in Russia. President demands Muslim clerics be educated, enlightened, capable of giving a clear assessment of current challenges.
Now is the time for a counter-offensive against radical pseudo-Islam. One should bear in mind the fact that the preachers involved in real Islamic education in Russia, are the people who studied in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, or even in London, where Hizb ut-Tahrir is headquartered. One needs to change the situation, and now is the time.
July 17th, 2014 at 10:39 am
One of the main problems of Western culture is the notion that Science and religion (or in this case the Catholic church) are incomparable. Thus Secularism was the answer. The separation of Church and state was born due to the need to separate Science from religion. It led to a very unhappy divorce. It has metastasized into a pseudo war of morals, ethics and the concept of creation on one side and pure science, individualism as seen in the Feminist movement, abortion, gay marriage, acceptance of hedonism as a way of life and evolution bereft of divine intervention on the other side. Some now claim that evolution can happen as the byproduct of Creation and by that try to remarry Science and religion again. This is my take on it.
As far as Islam its weakest point is its strongest point. What unites all Muslims is two cities; Mecca and Medina. 1.5 Billion Muslims turn to these two cities in Saudi Arabia to worship for the rest of their lives. To concentrate so much of spiritual power within those two cities is extremely potent and extremely unstable. While all other major faiths have had their holiest cities vandalized or destroyed Islam has yet to face this specter. The day that Mecca and Medina face the same fate that Varanasi, Jerusalem, Bodhgaya, or Amritsar had to face would be a shattering event. It would destroy the foundation of the faith itself.
July 17th, 2014 at 1:51 pm
To my mind, Radical Islam, Wahhabism in particular, is the Islamic world’s response to its FAILURE to secure justice in its confrontations with the Western world.
Primary among those FAILED confrontations is the open Israeli-Palestenian wound in the Middle East that continues to fester and poison their view of the Western world as it has for nearly seven decades. The failure to get that problem resolved has led to increasing frustration and disenchantment of Muslims with Western World.
Turkey, that was previously hailed as model for Muslim countries to follow, is no longer viewed as a role model for Muslim countries, as its bid to join the EU remains mired in Western prejudice and a multitude of former Soviet Union republics join the EU ahead of Turkey. Turkey itself is increasingly becoming Islamist and is meddling again in Islamic rivalries of the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Gulf monarchies that value money over faith, prop themselves up with Western military might while simultaneously trying to placate the Muslim masses around them by sponsoring the Islamic Jihad. A prime example is Qatar, that hosts a massive US Navy base while pumping money to various radical Islamic movements in Libya, Syria and elsewhere.
However, with the rise of the Islamic State now controlling Eastern Syria and Northern Western Iraq, the attempt by these Gulf shiekdoms to balance the acquisition of oil wealth while riding the tiger of Islamic extremism seems to be coming to an end. The Islamic State now threatens every one of these oil shiekdoms with its demonstrated military prowess coupled to its transformation into a Caliphate that respects no international boundaries. It now threatens the very national existence of the oil-rich Arab countries.
Every insurgent group the oil shiekdoms fund seems ultimately to join the Islamic State, which inherits all of those resources. On the other hand, the only other force capable of confronting the Islamic State are the heretical apostates of the Shia branch of Islam of Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere that they were trying to wipe out in cahoots with the Western powers only yesterday. They are now impaled on the horns of a classic dilemma between the Devil of the Islamic State and the Deep Blue Sea of the Shia heretics! Looks like they will have to leave their Rolls Royces behind, hump an AK-47, and fight their own battles from now on!
But, the question is, can the sheiks of the oil-shiekdoms trust the masses in their own nations to fight for them? There have been violent uprisings in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, aided and abetted in part by Al-Quaida, for several decades now. Who can they trust? Who can they turn to?
My guess is that the leadership of these countries will turn again for help to the Western powers, who will happily increase their foothold in these regions, selling them all the high-priced arms they are unable to use, stationing all the Western troops needed for a hefty price. They will control the petroleum resources of these countries for another century, when the West will no longer need it having supplanted petroleum with nuclear and renewable energy sources in their own economies.
July 17th, 2014 at 2:12 pm
Islam will destroy Russia, UK, France, etc.
Islam is the FASTEST growing religion in these countries. The problem is Islam.
July 17th, 2014 at 2:32 pm
Lorenzo,
Problem is Islam? Maybe.
But, the GREATER problem is UNRESTRICTED & MASSIVE IMMIGRATION into the West that will overwhelm their native populations.
Yesterday, there was a news article in which British people were protesting the Islamic curriculum being taught at a Britsh school primarily attended by Muslim students. They were worried about the change in the Culture of Britain and demanding “When in Britain, Do as the British Do!”
There are LESSONS HERE that we Sri Lankans MUST LEARN, because there are many business and political leaders in Sri Lanka advocating the IMPORTATION of Foreign Workers into Sri Lanka, either because Sri Lankan workers are too expensive, or because they have all gone abroad!
Instead of investing in and surrounding Sri Lankan workers with all of the capital equipment and tools, and giving them the education and training required to live, work and compete productively against the world in their own country, these IDIOTS are proposing to force them to emigrate to other countries in search of jobs, and replacing them with poor immigrants from other countries who can be exploited!
HOW STUPID CAN YOU GET?
July 17th, 2014 at 4:44 pm
Ananda,
HOW STUPID CAN YOU GET?
This is a BIG problem in SL.
Every year SL EXPORTS hundreds of thousands of HOUSEMAIDS (MOSTLY Sinhala Buddhist women), etc. and IMPORTS tens of thousands of TAMIL men to work in farms. And Muslims from maldives, Pakistan, etc.
But the problem is STRUCTURAL. Our farms are SMALL so using machinery is not wide spread. We need BIGGER farms and SCRAP TEA plantations that require kallathonis.
Sinhala Buddhist people are not into BUSINESS unlike Tamils and Muslims. Tamils and Muslims STAY in SL while Sinhala men and women TOIL in the Middle East to earn a living. Their earnings are TAKEN by Tamil and Muslim businesses.
Another problem is LACK OF JOBS in SL. Those who cannot get their jobs should go abroad (e.g. USA, Canada, Australia, etc.) so that they can send money to SL.
SL runs on FOREIGN REMITTANCES.
MODAYAS don’t get it. They waste those HARD EARN money on CAR RACES and FAT MINISTRIES.
July 18th, 2014 at 12:59 pm
Ananda: You are right. Islam is a problem mainly due to the tolerant immigration laws that allow them to emigrate to other nations. As for Islam growing due to her high birth rate that is a double edged sword. Any family regardless of faith can only produce so many children depending on the parents’ ability to feed, cloth and educate them. No religion is immune from that. I also agree that the backlash to Islam from the non Islamic world has seen a steady rise since the late 20th century and into the 21st century. by the likes of it the backlash against Islam is going to accelerate.
Lorenzo: foreign remittances have proved to be a boon for many developing nations. India is the largest recipient of it or is it Mexico? But the greatest commercial act Sri Lanka can do is invest into foreign mines, companies, and real estate as the Chinese are doing. Just in the area of gems Sri Lanka should invest in buying up Emerald and diamond mines in Africa, invest in foreign banks and corporations where monies from them are more secure, bring larger returns and expand Sri Lanka’s economy outside of her boundary. By that I am not dismissing foreign remittances.
Here the Buddhist Sanga can play a role in investing sums of money in foreign institutes and engage as a business corporation. Many Hindu Temples including organizations in India are doing the same and so are Muslim and Christian organizations. they make a lot of money and by that also spread their influence across the globe. One vital area is the foreign media.
Both Ananda and Lorenzo: Both of you have good points. Please take my advice as that of a friend and lets not call any commenter names even if one itches to do so.
July 18th, 2014 at 3:30 pm
“The costs of hull war risks emanating from yesterday’s downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 are not expected to exceed the $380m (£222m) losses following the 2001 Tamil Tigers attack on Sri Lanka’s Bandaranaike Airport, according to loss adjusting sources.”
– postonline
Tamils are the WORST terrorists in the world. Glad the world comes to realize it.